What if the game were set up such that all rewards were back-end loaded to the success of the mission, then at the end, it gives you a choice of IGC, random item drops, or a 50/50 mix of both? Assuming the amount of IGC were set at whatever price point the devs like to make the choices about right for what they think the items ought to be worth, then it seems to me that at times when the items are selling at high prices, one would go for the random drops, and when items are cheap, one would go for IGC with which to buy them.
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R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
Please note: This is assuming that defeating mobs in the mission will give you nothing UNTIL the mission is completed. So no random item drops from them, no currency drops from them, nothing.
Taking this reward scheme without knowing enough about the rest of the game (ie general gearing rules/crafting systems if any/mechanics of other related stuff) is going to seriously sway how I would answer it.
Do I get to see what the random drops are before I choose the "random drop" option?
Or is it a case of going into it blind... And would there be a chance of an item dropping and me being unable to use it for ANY reason. Not because "I don't want to use it", but because "My character CANNOT use it" (ie if we go CoX style, an Enhancement of the wrong origin)
Because if it is going into it blind, then only an idiot, or someone with a sugar daddy character, would choose the "random items" option repeatedly. Unless of course this is something that would only happen at level cap.
If this happens at level cap, I would be more inclined to go for the "random items" option. If levelling up, I want to be able to slot my character, so I would be more likely to go for the "guaranteed" route of currency[1].
[1] Because going by my luck, the random drops would be an order of magnitude LESS valuable than the cash I could get.
Very early on in the project a similar system was suggested. It didn't entirely get vetted due to a number of issues.
Positive reward models provided in incrementally through a play session (being considered average mission length for purposes of the discussion) encourage continued play. If all drop rewards are gated behind mission completion, [i] could result[/I] in less desired play.
Players could be kicked from a group, suffer a sudden disconnect, or be forced to log off due to real life concerns. This could result in anything from a form of griefing to discouraged play because it "takes to long to earn something".
Players should be rewarded for general play time.
However there may be a way to weight rewards toward mission completion that also provides a means for those who have to log off, or suffer a boot / disconnect, which allows a player to earn appropriate rewards for when they do complete a mission (or challenge - we do plan on a diverse challenge system).
This way players are rewarded for playing at all times (drops can drop) but get a big payoff for actually doing "something" (like completing a challenge or mission). The reward model would need to accommodate both random rolls off loot tables to obtaining that desired item. Desired items may have a natural time-gate and any reward would come at a "cost" random or not. While this can be used to earn a particular item for the market, it also provides a way for players to get what they want without hoping for a drop or to avoid the market (not everyone may want to use it).
As always, this is something still being refined and is subject to change.
[hr]I don't use a nerf bat, I have a magic crowbar!
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[color=#ff0000]Tech Team. [/color]
Interesting comments all. I would respond to Gangrel's comments about "If there's a chance I could get a useless (to me) item, I'm going IGC every time." by saying that if everyone did that, IGC would become plentiful and items people want would be scarce. This would drive up the IGC prices to buy those items to the point where, if you took the random drop option, you'd have an increased chance of getting an item (and maybe one you literally can't use) that sells on the open market for a lot more IGC than the IGC option alone would have given you. So in that world, you'd either get something you can use, or something you can sell for MORE IGC than the IGC drop that would have replaced it in the first place.
you can't expect every player to make the "efficient" play every time in that game, but you can expect the overallt trends among the player base to more- or less follow the best return on investment strategy available.
As for Tannim222's comments, I can see where getting kicked or DCed mid-mission would be a problem there, yeah. Still, there were bonuses at the ends of missions in CoX and the world didn't come to an end or anything. Even if there are random item drops and IGC gotten by defeating mobs, if the end bonus is about as much IGC as all the mobs put together, or a drop from a roll on a better reward table, I think something like this could still work within reason.
As for the all-the-time drops and IGC rewards, is there the possibility of setting your rewards to either "all random items" or "all IGC " or "50/50" as a configurable setting for your toon? That way you could affect the nature of those incremental drops too. I would make that setting a thing you have to go talk to an NPC to reset, like the smae guy that resets your difficulty maybe.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
Well i can't get into particulars but I hope to implement player side configuable settings for certain reward metrics. This wouldn't affect drops earned from pawn defeats but what is earned at the end of missions or challenges. Hopefully without the need for an NPC for what amounts to stuff that can be done as menu options.
[hr]I don't use a nerf bat, I have a magic crowbar!
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[color=#ff0000]Tech Team. [/color]
That sounds interesting. I can only assume a challenge is either A) a pseudonym for Task Force or Trial or B) some form of organized PVPing. I'm not pressing for details, only speculating on my own.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
The other thing to remember is how the enhancement/crafting/salvage system is integrated as well. That is also a huge factor.
If stuff can be broken down for crafting components, then that also affects the choice.
If the rewards are soul bound, that affects the decision as well.
If the rewards cannot be easily replaced (ie CoX style where replacing an enhancement basically involved you destroying what was already in that place), that can affect it.
It also depends as well entirely on WHAT the reward was. If it is something that can be bought from the ingame store for normal currency (like CoX TO/DO and SO enhancements) that would affect it.
If the enhancements are "origin locked", that could affect it.
There are a lot of different factors here that come in to play... and without knowing THOSE, all I can say is what I would do. And that is what would be guaranteed.
CoX and its enhancements as drops? They were *kind* of useful, especially at the lower levels. But the higher level you went, the more likely you were going to be to get an enhancement that you *couldn't* slot due to it being of the wrong enhancement[1]
And the stores sold them as well...
And you could get them from street sweeping as well. There were a lot of different avenues on how stuff was obtained for the vast majority of stuff. So going for the "random enhancement" isn't quite so much of a benefit.
Unless it was an IO or something like the Synthetic Hami-O. Those were NOT obtainable through normal gameplay. You had to run specific content to get those.
If it was THAT style of content/reward scheme... then that is something different. And then it would depend at the moment in time on several other factors (crafting/salvage system for example) and if I had any feasible *requirement* for them.
It also depends as to how easy it is to do the comparison of "Should I go for the random drops or should I go for the cash" without having to ask other people. This then leads into the quest/reward/pick up system. Do you have to go back to the mission giver to get the *physical* reward, or do you get it automagically from whereever you hand it in?
If you can get the rewards from anywhere, then I can see the AH being a popular place for people to hang around and hand in their missions.
So yeah, long answer with basically an answer of "depends on the situation and I need more information to actually give a properly formulated answer"
[1] Obviously depends on the content you were running, but I would hope that *in general* you would get rewards that you could use. To be honest, City of Heroes was VERY bad at telling you ingame which mobs dropped what typed of stuff. And which arcs gave what *origin* of rewards.
If that was more obvious without me having to look at the wiki page, so I could go for content where the rewards were something that I would have a greater chance of using, then I would go for it that way.
Neither, though both A and B can be involved. Challenges are things you do, ways you play, achievements earned and so on. Think of the Master of...settings for certain task / strike forces from the old game, expanded categorically and applicably to every mission, have parts applicable to pvp, and even street sweeping.
[hr]I don't use a nerf bat, I have a magic crowbar!
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[color=#ff0000]Tech Team. [/color]
Ahh. Okay.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising